Under the Shadow

As a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war-torn Tehran of the 80s, a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home. Slyly merging a familiar but effective genre exercise with a grim allegory of female oppression, Babak Anvari’s resourceful debut film grounds its premise in something at once vaguely political and ineluctably sinister. Similar to breakout horror “The Babadook”, Anvari’s film is deeply concerned with the plight of women under the post-revolution regime, right up to its harrowing final moments. Under the Shadow reveals itself as a horror story rooted in the dreams and pathologies that mothers pass down to their daughters and the defiant gestures it may take for cycles of persecution to be broken.

Screening with Australian short film Little Lamb (23mins) Directed by Heidi Douglas

7:15pmSunday 18th September

2016 | Jordan, UK | 83 mins | Farsi with English subtitles

DIRECTOR - Babak Anvari VENUE - Deckchair Cinema

The film’s triumph lies in its ability to critique Iran’s post-revolution regime for its blatant sexism, while still working as a full-throttle horror when the demons come out to play. Anvari proves himself to be a master at modulating fear: the jump scares are executed with effective precision, leading up to a magnificently intense climax